P1 NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK-HUDSON REGION SPORTS CAR CLUB OF AMERICA (Mo-Hud) Sports Car Club of America Board of Directors Announces New President of SCCA Dateline: Topeka, KS, April 1, 2017 - The Board of Directors for the Sports Car Club of America has chosen Jim Bucci as the new President of SCCA. Their decision comes after an exhaustive search including days of sifting through resumes and interviewing potential candidates. “We must have looked at a thousand resumes during our search”, chairman of the board Lee Hill said. He continued: “We had applications and resumes from attorneys, NASCAR drivers, and corporate CEOs. But when it came right down to it, we felt someone with a strong tie to the SCCA was our best choice.” Bucci, a 30-year member of the Sports Car Club of America was stunned when it was announced he was chosen. “Frankly, I was shocked. I sent in my application and resume almost as a lark. I didn’t know if I had a real shot at the top spot or not.” As a lark or not, the appointment of Jim Bucci as president of the SCCA is effective April 1. In reaching their decision on a new president, the Board said several factors led to choosing Bucci. Among those factors was his success as both a Little League assistant coach and Cub-Scout den leader. Being the Regional Executive of the Mohawk- Hudson Region helped as well. Bucci said his first order of business is actually two-fold “First, we need to add more classes to the SCCA road racing rules and I’d also like to see a new requirement added to the GCR that all competition vehicles must have pink mirrors.” - President Bucci will be spending his first day in office signing a number of executive orders, putting his plans into action.
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NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK-HUDSON REGION SPORTS CAR CLUB OF AMERICA (Mo-Hud)
- Responding to Jim Bucci’s first-day-in-office initiatives as President of the Sports Car Club of America, SCCA has announced two new club-level competition series: Spec Trabant sponsored by Waste Management, and Solo Trabant sponsored by the NWTOATDMC. (National We’re Tired Of All Those Damned Miatas Club) Spec Trabant, a rigid class-rule series, will feature a substantial aero package and significant engine modifications from the original 1.0 liter two-cylinder 20 hp unit. Overbore to 2 liters, removal of the standard air filter, and relocation of the windshield washer bottle to the trunk will be allowed. LDM-Tuning of Wartburg, Barkas, is the first certified engine supplier. In announcing its sponsorship of the Spec Trabant series, Waste Management CEO David P. Steiner stated that “We are proud to honor the spirit of recycling by encouraging reuse of the many abandoned Trabants still littering rural roads near the former East German border.” Solo Trabant will also be bound by strict class rules. Cars must be stock 601 models, with two exceptions: tires must be made of rubber, and the placement of multiple decals for weight redistribution will not be allowed. While the windshield wiper bottle must remain in its original position, it may be run empty. NWTOATDMC spokesperson Gerhard von Scharnhorst commented “our name says it all, and we are still negotiating with Topeka over the PAX Index; their suggestion of 0.25 does not sit well with our membership… we’d like to see something in the low 0.09s.” -- SCCA: Originally located in button-down Westport Connecticut, it was exiled by the village board’s patrician brahmins to Denver Colorado in 1971 for having allowed SCCA members to shed their blazers for just shirts and ties in summer meetings. SCCA is now located now in Topeka KS, which allows tank-tops year-round. -- David P. Steiner: According to Wikipedia, Waste Management CEO David P. Steiner “has been described by many as a renaissance man because of his ability to speak five languages and his prolific proficiency in finger painting.” (Seriously, that was taken right from Wikipedia.)
Two New Competition Classes
Spec Trabant at Speed
Solo Trabant Being Unloaded for Secret Testing at McCarty Lot
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Federal Injunction…
Solo Season Postponed!
The U.S. District Court District of Kansas (Topeka) has issued a preliminary injunction against the Solo programs of SCCA, halting autocross events nationwide. |People For the Ethical Treatment of Cones (PFETC, pronounced “fetch”) v. Sports Car Club of America, 17-DKT-302 | Judge Benton, in issuing the injunction, agreed with PFETC that cones face irreparable harm at solo events, especially in the spring, when drivers – fresh out of hibernation – are more likely to strike cones again and again. PFETC appended their injunction petition with pictures of severely damaged cones and videos of Solo participants taking out whole rows of cones in a single turn. “The sight of entire cone families being wiped out in a few seconds is as disturbing as anything I’ve seen in The Vikings, a television documentary about the cruel behavior of people whose descendants settled those barren areas north of our great sunflower state: Kansas,” noted Benton in delivering his opinion. Due to his large holdings in Westlake Chemical Company and DOW Chemical Company, Judge Benton has recused himself from further proceedings. In Judge Benton’s place, retired Judge Anton Scalia has been appointed Special Master to hear the case. SCCA attorneys have stated that they intend to appeal based on the their contention that although it is arguably true that cones are frequently treated like domestic servants at work, they are lovingly cared for between events, and retired with respect. On the negative side, SCCA’s lead attorney, Cam Arentasinger, has expressed concern over how to get Judge Scalia to respond during oral arguments, scheduled next week. Following are some of the exhibits submitted by PFETC on behalf of cones nationwide:
< “Happy Cone Family Before Forced Solo Course Duty” “Hit by a Honda” >
^ Alleged Cone Mistreatment by Solo Drivers ^
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Vintage Road Rally to Test Classic Skills
MoHud rallymaster Trish Bucci has announced the 60th MoHud Anniversary Vintage Road Rally, to take place 3-6pm, on April31st. Starting and ending at Wolf’s Biergarten, there will be no actual road course, assuring that no teams will get lost. Instead, teams will be seated at separate tables and be required to perform a timed series of rally-type calculations on vintage rally instruments: a slide rule and a Curta Calculator. Several rally workers will be adding to the task difficulty by throwing peanut shells to distract those performing the calculations, a typical hazard at Wolf’s. Participants joining in this behavior to sabotage other teams is another potential, yet expected, hazard; sort of like turning signposts around in the old days of rallying. Overall Vintage Road Rally winners will be awarded the prestigious Leibniz Trophy and a leatherette-bound set of Wekipedia (family edition). Best slide rule team will receive an order of chips and an IPA of their choice, while Curta experts will be treated to a bretzle and large steins of a good Bavarian schwarzbier. . A special award will go to any team able to correctly position decimal places while calculating with a slide rule. Sign up today, then begin practicing the rapid alignment of C and D scales on a slide rule, while jumping up-and-down (a good simulation of late ‘50s rally navigation). See you on the 31st!
Above: A vintage Keuffel & Esser slide rule. Originally used by a young draftsman (later Head of Engineering) at Bethlehem Steel Company’s Lackawana Plant in the building of that complex from 1926 on. Later used by his son to short-cut math problems in high school and to navigate in Central New York SCCA TDS rallys c. 1958-1961. Right: A typical Series I Curta “pepper mill” imported by John Burns starting around 1955. He and wife Mary revolutionized US TDS rallying, with the Curta becoming the weapon of choice for pro navigators until the arrival of the Halda Speed Pilot (usually installed in one of those putt-putt Saab 93s).
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This Month… - MoHud Road Test: coffee mugs - John and Mary Burns: Vintage Rallyists
Coffee Mugs: Comparison Road Test; Contigo-Jaguar and MoHud mugs go head-to-head
Even when cars will be driving us, rather than us driving them, a cupholder will still be the most important interior accessory. And just as there is a strong minority of drivers who prefer manual shift over automatic, there is a strong minority who want java in their own mugs, not some flimsy imitation from Dunkin®. In keeping with this spirit of independence, the KO staff has undertaken a comparative road test of two high-performance mugs, a Contigo Jaguar-logoed mug, and a MoHud design-it-yourself mug, both provided by a MoHud member.
KO staff consulted with several java users, ranging from serious caffeine addicts to those who describe themselves as “social drinkers,” to come up with key elements to be used in considering the purchase of a new coffee mug for use in their personal vehicles. The following summarizes the test criteria and findings.
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John and Mary Burns: Vintage Rallyists
They were always “Mr. Burns, sir,” and “Mrs. Burns, ma’m” to me, so perhaps my memory is playing tricks when I say her first name was Mary. The Burns home was a stately old mansion on West Ferry Street in Buffalo’s Elmwood Village section, a block or so west of Delaware Avenue, just north of Allentown, and just east of Parkside. Parkside, you may recall, was the scene of that auction of over three-dozen '50s sports cars found in an old repair garage about three years ago. The Burns' carriage house/ garage sheltered several exotic vehicles, including a Jaguar XK120 coupe that had been modified for rallying. Not like a contemporary WRC rally car, but serious for that time. Extra wheel on the trunk lid, Lucas Flamethrower spotlights in front, AT-6 Texan relief tube for John, and a, well… uhmm… appropriate apparatus for Mary; as well as some dash clips to hold a Curta calculator, pencils, and paper pads. You see, John was the American distributor for Curtas, part of Burns Industries-- although I never did find out what Burns Industries really did; John always seemed to be at home puttering with something or other. I got the impression that all he really did was TDS rallying.
I hung around with Bruce, the youngest son, and the most interesting part of his family's life was dinner. Dinner was always formal. If you didn't bring a formal dinner jacket with you, no problem, as one of the second floor bedrooms contained a closet filled with dinner jackets in all sizes. Back downstairs, the dining room was lined with ancestor portraits --sitting or standing, the subjects invariably depicted wearing the Burns tartan. The meal would be served on cracked and chipped blue Wedgwood that likely came over in the hold of a Blackball Packet a hundred years earlier. Eccentric? Perhaps, but fondly remembered. Today, when you can use TDS navigator apps on your smartphone, the complexity of using a Curta can be mind-boggling. For insights and instructions, parse < http://winktimber.com/vintagerally/gear/curta.htm >. You’ll find a number of articles, including one written by John Burns for SCCA’s Sports Car magazine back in 1961. And if you aren’t into buying a vintage Curta, but want to rally using one, the Richta-Lite Rally Calculator app duplicates the Curta functions. > >
Similar XK120 - If I remember correctly, theirs was tan
